About Bark Busters Home Dog Training

Bark Busters is the worldwide leader of in-home dog training. We’ve trained more than 1 million dogs and their pet parents using natural communication techniques. Our expert dog trainers and therapists resolve the most challenging dog behavior issues – aggression, destruction, separation anxiety, sibling rivalry – as well as barking, jumping, and more. We also teach dog and puppy obedience, all in your home. Any breed, age, or issue, we help clients live happier lives together with their dogs.

Our Philosophy

Developed through decades of practical field experience with hundreds of trainers and over one million dogs, the Bark Busters training methodology is based upon five core principles:

Dog behavior can best be explained in dog terms. Dogs are complex creatures that have evolved with and alongside humans for some 15,000 years. Dog owners, however, tend to relate to dogs by humanizing them, and researchers find it difficult to study dogs without comparisons to wolves or other species. This creates conflict over which theories and training methodologies are most effective. Bark Busters believes that our vast set of practical knowledge has produced a working model for dog behavior that is more functionally complete than narrow academic findings, with more predictive validity than common folk theories. As students of dog behavior, we respect and apply relevant findings in the latest research to bridge the gap between academia and household application.

Undesirable behavior is a symptom of some underlying cause, not a problem in and of itself. Training solutions must account for the precipitating factors of a dog's choice, not simply the behavior itself or the consequences. Often, undesirable behaviors can be changed by simple conditioning. In many circumstances, however, if the impetus for the behavior has not changed, the problem will not resolve and symptoms will reoccur, or new ones will develop.

Dogs are social animals and interpret most behavior according to the social context. Inclusion within a pack or familial unit is a very strong driver because the pack is the means through which all other needs are met. Therefore, many behavioral issues can be traced to pack dysfunctions, and many solutions are created through pack reorganization. How the overall training regimen affects the dog's assessment of the pack is of primary importance in creating sustainable results.

Dogs' perceptive and communicative abilities govern how and what they learn. Dogs and humans have much in common, but our differences are pronounced: the way we look and act, and the way we perceive the world. In order for a trainer to be understood, they need to communicate in a way that dogs understand. Bark Busters structures its communications – body language, voice tones, timing, and sequence – to replicate the canine communication model. Doing so fosters better human-dog understanding, and therefore, more complete learning.

The training tactics we employ emulate the same tactics dogs use to train each other… and humans. There is no better standard for canine education than using methods dogs are predisposed to use and understand. Contrary to common assumptions, dogs do not typically use pain or fear to communicate with each other, so the Bark Busters training approach doesn't either. We use measured and responsible techniques, including operant conditioning, classical conditioning, inference, and imitation, to teach in a way that takes advantage of dogs’ full intellectual capabilities.